I was looking the other day in a reference book which had Ryun's 100m splits given for his 1500m WR in 67, to the nearest 0.1. Now I haven't seen the entire race (has anyone?) but I think I'm right in thinking that the track in LA was a 440yd one?
IF it was, then I find it doubtful that anyone could have kept accurate split times for each 100m stretch, whether there in person or looking at a video copy of the race.
On a 440yd track, I guess they would have a mark for 110yds, 220yds, 330yds.
Well obviously it's easy enough to run a Mile, it's just 4 laps with the same start and finish lines. 4 x 440yds = 1760yds = 1609.344m
That means that each lap on a 440yds track is = 402.336m. Let's say 402.34m
Therefore, when I looked into the breakdown of a 1500m run on a 440 (402.34m) track, I realised that there could be up to 19 different marks on the track for the duration of a 1500m!
N.B. I am not sure, and I would welcome any info from posters who have had experience of running on 440yd tracks, especially from the 60's, but I presume a 1500m race would finish on the same finish line for all other races!? In other words, the same finish line as a 220yd sprint, Mile, etc.
If this is the case, then a 1500m would be 3 complete laps of the track, plus the initial "3/4 ish" start on 1st lap.
402.34 x 3 = 1207.02m. Let's round it to 1207m
That means a 1500m race would be 3 complete laps (1207m) plus an initial 293m at the start.
So a 1500m would start at 0m, and the line would be 293m from first going through finish line, and 109.34m past the finish line (i.e. they start at a point 109.34m anti-clockwise from the finish at end of home straight).
The first 100m gone mark would therefore be 193m from the finish, which is the same as 209.34m past the finish line.
Around this first 100m into the race, there would also be marks on the track (wouldn't there?) for 220yds (201.17m from the finish). The distance between this line and the first 100m into a 1500m would be 8.17m (201.17 -193m).
It gets even more complicated when you realise that to take 100m splits, there would need to be another mark for 500m into a 1500m race, which would be 195.34m from the finish line and 207m past the finish line on the second lap.
You would also need a mark for 900m ~ 197.68m from finish, 204.66 past the finish line.
And yet another for 1300m, which would be the 200m from home mark and be situated 202.34m past the finish line.
So there would be 5 marks on the track - i) 100m into a 1500m race gone, ii) the 500m into a race, iii) 900m, iv) 1300m (200m from home) and v) the 220yds line. That's 5 marks to take splits from within a distance of 8.17m.
There would be similar problems at the start of the straight, where again 5 different markers would be needed to take accurate splits. You would need ones for 200m into the race, 600m, 1000m, 1400m (100m from the finish) and there would probably be a line for 110yds.
5 lines within a space of 7.58m (110yds = 100.58m from finish line, 200m into a 1500m would be 93m from finish)
Near the finish line, only 4 marks are needed: - The finish line, 300m into a 1500 race (7m past the finish line), 700m gone (4.6m past the finish line) and 1100m into a 1500 race (2.34m past the finish line)
Then we have the start line.
Apart from the 1500 start line, which is 293m from the finish line (109.34m past it), there will also be:-
-a 330yds line , 301.76m from the finish (100.58m past it);
- a 400m line into a 1500m, which will be 295.34m from the finish (107m past it);
-an 800m into a 1500 race line, which would be 297.68m from finish (104.66m past it);
-a 1200m into a 1500m race line, which would be 300m from the finish (102.34m past it).
That's 5 different marks needed to record 100m splits for a 1500m race, all within a stretch of 8.76m. That's about 1.1sec in time terms for someone running a 50 sec lap.
I find it highly unlikely that there was 4 or 5 official timekeepers situated in 4 different points around the track to get all those split times for metres and yards!
Looking at the only (edited) video footage I've seen, here,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhkjIrzTiEA
there is no onscreen clock and no obvious markings for the split times I've outlined above, on the track. So I think it would be almost impossible to offer 100m splits from footage viewed on a screen.
In addition, it would be quite likely for timekeepers to make the odd mistake, if they have to remember which of the 5 lines is which, and at which one to take each of the 3 or more split times. Choosing just one line wrong at each of the 4 points around the track would seriously skew the overall split times. If a couple of mistakes are made, then the split times start looking ridiculous.
If, on a 440yd track, someone takes the 1200m split time at the start line, which is exactly where it is taken from on a 400m track, then he is actually recording the athlete's time for 1207m, not 1200m. Therefore the last 300m split could be out by 0.9secs. That will then have a knock on effect of making the penultimate 100m (from 400 to 300m from home) look too slow, and the 100m between 300 and 200m from home too quick.
Even if you just use the 110yd, 220yd, 330yd splits, there is a lot of recalculation that needs to take place.
If you use the 220yd mark on a track, then you have to add on 8.17m of time to find the 100m split time, add on 5.83m to find the 500 split, 3.49m to find the 900m split, and then take off 1.17m of time to get the 1300m and last 200m split!
I think this is why there seem to be quite a few anomalies in split times I've seen for metric races run on an imperial 440yd track.
It would be interesting to know whether or not the Dusseldorf track Ryun ran on in 1967 was a 440yd track?